Oct 13 (Reuters) – The Atlanta Dream will move Games 3 and 4 of the WNBA Finals against the Golden State Valkyries to the larger home of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks in a bid to accommodate more fans, the Dream and Hawks said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
The switch required several scheduling changes because the original date for Game 3 clashed with a concert at the arena, while the Hawks host the Houston Rockets there on the day of Game 4.
Game 3 has therefore been brought forward by a day to October 21. Game 4 will still be played on October 24 but with an earlier tip-off so as not to clash with the Hawks game.
“This is what the players and the fans deserve,” Larry Gottesdiener, Atlanta Dream majority owner, said in a news release. “We are grateful to all of the stakeholders who worked together to resolve the conflicts and make this happen.”
The Dream, who have played home games in recent seasons at a 3,500-seat venue, announced last week that they would move to the Hawks’ arena next year under a multi-year agreement.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in TorontoEditing by Toby Davis)
